Back to the Drawing Board
by UmbreonGurl
Summary: Rie has always hated the dark. But the dark has always loved her a bit too much. [Sai's Twin OC] [GEN]


This was supposed to be a one shot, but it keeps getting bigger so I'm going to divide it up.

Hi everyone, I uh, am so sorry about leaving this the way it is. I'll probably come back to it at some point! (Maybe. I bounce from fandom to fandom like a little kid in a bouncy castle.)

Thanks to my babes on discord for letting me bounce ideas off of you. (And for helping beta read it.) I love you guys!

Reviews are love!

* * *

The group of mask-wearing soldiers around her made her uneasy. Why had she been taken here? Why had they taken her brother? It was too dark. She hated the dark. She was scared. The firm grip one of the masked men had on her arm was not helping.

Her brother put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. In most cases, she disliked physical contact. It made her uncomfortable in a way that she couldn't quite explain. Her brother, however, was an exception. It was far different to be grabbed by someone you knew and trusted than to be aggressively grabbed by a stranger. She focused on her breathing. She needed to stay calm. If she kept her cool, the masked men hopefully wouldn't hurt them.

An elderly man with a cane walked into the room, flanked by two more masked men.

"My name is Danzo Shimura," he said. "You will address me as Danzo-sama and _only_ Danzo-sama. You have been selected to be a part of an elite group of ninja known as ROOT. You will become one of the unseen ones who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the earth."

She was afraid of the dark because it was where monsters lived. She would later find out that it was not where they lived—but where they were created.

* * *

Her brother was gone. Taken, led down some corridor in the maze of hallways that made up the home base of ROOT. She felt like a piece of her had been ripped away. Instead, they placed her with a girl who talked too much at a volume that was far too loud. She had no name. She was Recruit Four and her roommate was Recruit Five. She hated Recruit Five. Why couldn't they have let her stay with her brother? She had never been separated from him before. She missed him so much it hurt.

Recruit Four was hungry. Recruit four was tired. They deprived her of food; they deprived her of sleep, and even went so far as to deprive her of human contact. She didn't mind the last one that much. ROOT were not allowed have emotions. But she was angry, angry at life, angry at Danzo- _sama_ , and angry at just about everything. So she did what she always did when she was angry. She took out her sketchbook, turned to a fresh page, and began to draw.

* * *

" _In ROOT, you have no name. You have no feelings. You have no past. You have no future._ _There is only the mission."_

The words of her instructor continued to echo inside her head. She had memories of another world, another life, where chakra and ninja didn't exist. She had memories and obscure knowledge of a world she wasn't entirely sure existed or not. Years of studying, of schooling, for a job she hadn't lived long enough to obtain.

While she hadn't enjoyed the majority of her new life, for her, a chance was a chance. She wouldn't hesitate to make the most of it. She had already died once, and she refused to die again. Especially when this time, she has something—no— _someone_ , to live for. She liked her appearance better in this world. It was far easier to draw.

* * *

She was pale. Too pale. After spending years underground, her skin had gone from pale to borderline white. The contrast it had with her dark hair reminded her of the contrast of ink on paper.

No matter what she did, she could never get drawings of herself to look exactly the way she wanted. She had drawn her brother so many times that now, drawing his face felt familiar, felt _right_. Even though she hadn't seen him for years, she kept drawing him, drawing herself, and most of all, drawing them together, because she _refused_ to forget. She wouldn't allow herself to. If it was the last thing she did, she would find him again. He had to be okay. He _had to be_. Otherwise what point was there? Without him, she was nothing.

* * *

The final exam seemed to have upset many of the other recruits. She had never liked Five, but she didn't want to kill her. However if it meant Four had the chance to live, she would slash her down without hesitation. And she did. She was given her animal mask, Chameleon, and the codename "Rie" as a reward.

To others, it would appear that Rie was emotionless, straight-faced, and merciless. She had become exactly what Danzo-sama wanted her to be. However, if you dug deeper, she was still there. Rie still had emotions, she still felt, but she had learned to put them all into her drawings. If she kept them within herself, they would show, and she would be punished. Rie had to go farther. She had to be the best. If she wasn't, Rie doubted Danzo-sama would allow her to see her brother again. In a world where she finally had family, she refused to give up on him. She reviewed the details of her mission, put on her mask, and met up with her team leader for the mission, Cat-senpai.

* * *

 _All ANBU wore masks, but Rie wore two. One for her face, one for herself._

* * *

After Third Hokage was killed by Orochimaru, Rie had been assigned more missions than normal. She didn't mind. Aside from all the blood, killing wasn't that hard. _(At least not anymore._ ) She enjoyed solo missions the most. Even though they were often more dangerous, the time away from people was nice. It gave Rie time to think, time to draw, and time to dream.

She had enjoyed missions with Cat-senpai, but Cat-senpai had long gone. He had died shortly after ROOT was "disbanded." ( _If ROOT was disbanded, then why had Cat-senpai died on a mission from Danzo-sama?_ ) Despite its death, ROOT had still lived. It had simply changed locations.

Either the Third Hokage had been ignorant, or he had been a fool. Rie hoped whoever became the Fifth Hokage would end ROOT for good.

* * *

 _One of the hardest things a person can do is convince himself he no longer cares._

* * *

The Fifth Hokage was in a coma from the devastating attack that Akatsuki had launched on Konoha. Rie was glad she was out on a mission when it occurred. She hoped that if her brother was still alive, he was alright. Danzo-sama was well on his way to becoming the Sixth Hokage. She would have rathered Hatake-san, but she would do as she always did either way. Survive.

Despite the attacker having a change of heart and somehow reviving everyone that died, the infrastructure of the village needed very serious repairs. Konoha had become little more than a crater in front of the Hokage Mountain after the attack.

* * *

Danzo Shimura was dead. He was killed by Sasuke Uchiha and exposed for his crimes—at least to the higher ups. If the public found out the truth about the massacre all hell would break loose, and there wasn't nearly enough sake in the world to deal with that.

He had left behind an organization full of people who had no idea what to do with themselves.

Tsunade sighed. She really needed a drink. There were only two members of ROOT she knew of that had been at least partially rehabilitated. She would make one of them deal with this. After all, the best thing about being Hokage was the ability to delegate a large amount of the work to someone else. She already had more than enough paperwork to do from being in a coma. And if she had to do it, she'd have a drink, and neither Shizune nor Sakura would be able to stop her.

* * *

Sai and Yamato stood in the Hokage's office awaiting their assignments. "Because you two are the only ROOT I know of that aren't _completely_ brainwashed, you're going to help with the process of rehabilitating the rest of ROOT Danzo left behind. You'll have help from T&I, of course, but I'm putting you two in charge of the project," said Tsunade, who stood and shoved a pile of files into both of their hands. She grabbed a bottle of sake she had hidden under her desk chuckled, and with a sadistically cheerful "good luck" walked out.

Sai let a small smile cross his face. Perhaps this was a way to make up for all the horrible things he had done. He had been given a chance to help others as Team Seven had helped him, and he wasn't going to waste it. He didn't remember what life was like before ROOT. He didn't remember his name. But he was Sai now. And that was all that mattered.

* * *

Inoichi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. The strategy Danzo had used to brainwash his agents was brilliant. Which is why it was so incredibly difficult to get through to them. They were like confused, socially-ignorant manchildren. It didn't help that the people in charge of this whole project were partially socially-ignorant manchildren. Well, at least Yamato was (mostly) socially functional. Sai still had a long way to go, but had made drastic improvement.

He wished he could pull a Tsunade and have a drink, but he still had two therapy appointments left today, so he would drink when he got home. God knows he needed it after he found out his little girl was dating a boy that nicknamed him "Mullet". His hair was _fine_ , goddamnit.

Inoichi checked his schedule. His next appointment wasn't for an hour or two. He decided that enough time to get a cup of coffee beforehand. If he couldn't have alcohol, some caffeine was the next-best thing.

* * *

"Hello."

Rie glanced up from her sketchbook. A man sat down across from her. He had the biggest ponytail she had ever seen in her life. Surely that couldn't be good to have your hair that long as a ninja? It could be easily used against you.

"My name is Inoichi Yamanaka. What is your name?" he asked, starting to write down kami-knows-what on his clipboard.

She thought for a moment. Did he want her codename? Did he want her real name? She didn't remember her real name. Her codename would have to do. "My codename is Rie," she replied, going back to drawing. She hated having to make eye contact with people. It made her feel uncomfortable.

"No surname?"

"No," she replied, "Doesn't your long hair get in the way of your job? Long hair is impractical for a ninja."

Inoichi raised an eyebrow. Out of all the former ROOT he had interviewed, Rie was one of the few that had asked any questions. Most of them had been so far gone they knew almost nothing about human interaction. She wasn't perfect, but he could work with this.

"It isn't a problem for me. Once you are an experienced ninja, you are able to be skilled enough to overcome disadvantages such as having long hair. Do you have any friends?" Inoichi replied, trying to get back on topic.

"ROOT are not allowed friends. Why do your eyes have no pupils?" Rie asked, completely unaware of how rude she was being.

"My eyes are a trait of my clan. Most of the Yamanaka clan has eyes like mine. Do you have any family that you know of?" Inoichi asked while writing something on his clipboard.

"I had a brother, once. He looked just like me. I do not know if he is still alive."

Finally, he was getting somewhere. "Do you know if he is older than you? Or younger than you?"

"We are the same age."

Twins. Damn. Most likely Rie's brother was dead, knowing Danzo's sick way of training recruits. Not that Inoichi would tell her this, of course. There was still a chance that her brother might still be out there. If Rie truly looked like her twin, it shouldn't be too hard to find him. The medic-nin should also be able to help speed-up the process with some genetic tests to confirm familial relations.

* * *

Inoichi glanced at the clock. It was time to end the appointment. "I will alert the medic-nin so one of them can come down and take a few blood samples. If your brother is still alive, we should be able to get a genetic match with one of the people in Konoha. I will see you again soon. You're dismissed."

Rie gathered up her things and walked out. As Inoichi was packing up his files and getting organized to leave, he noticed she left something on the table. It was a piece of paper. He flipped it over and came face-to-face with a drawing of himself wearing the most ridiculous outfit he had ever seen, and his face covered in makeup that resembled a prostitute from the red light district. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Inoichi really didn't get paid enough for this shit.

Wait a second… were those _BOOBS?!_

* * *

Rie sat in her new apartment. She liked it. It was small and quiet, but it was hers. She now had her very own walls to hang her drawings on. Even better, Rie wouldn't be punished for it. She covered almost all of the walls with art, just because she _could_. Most of it was of her brother, but there were a few different pieces scattered around too.

A med-nin was supposed to come soon to take her blood. Rie hoped whoever it was wasn't overly chatty. She hated chatty people. She personally didn't get why she just couldn't go to the hospital to get it done, but it was most likely because they didn't trust her. That was the only logical reason she could think of. Rie glanced at the clock. The medic-nin was supposed to be here in an hour. That was just enough time for Rie to finish her drawing.

* * *

Sakura wasn't quite sure what to expect when she had been asked to take blood samples from one of the former ROOT in the rehabilitation program. But she certainly hadn't expected every bit of the girl's apartment walls to be covered in drawings. (Or for a big bad ROOT agent to be scared of needles.) She quickly labeled the date and time of the collection. As Sakura gathered her things, she noticed something. The boy in the drawings looked like younger version of Sai. (They at least matched what she thought a younger Sai would look like.)

She froze. The blood tests were to look for familial relations, right? Perhaps this girl was somehow related to her socially-stupid teammate? She glanced back at girl, who was busy drawing. Now that Sakura thought about it, the girl also looked a lot like Sai. She looked back at the drawings. Then back at the girl. Then back at the drawings.

 _ **Holy shit.**_

* * *

"Tsunade-sama… you might want to take a look at this," said Sakura, placing a patient file on her desk.

"For the last time, Sakura, you're one of the finest med-nin in the world," replied Tsunade with a sigh, "If you can't solve it I doubt I'll be able to figure it out either. You're already on the path to becoming better than I am. "

"No… it's not that," said Sakura, "I'm looking for some personal advice here, not medical advice. Look at the file. According to the genetic tests, Sai has a twin sister. I'm not sure what to do."

"You're kidding me, right?" Tsunade replied, grabbing a flask from one of her desk drawers. Tsunade opened the file and looked over it. "Damn. You weren't kidding." Tsunade sighed and took a swig of her sake. She couldn't _wait_ to retire.

* * *

After reassuring Sakura everything would be fine, Tsunade motioned one of the ANBU guarding her office over. "One of you go find Sai and tell he's been summoned to my office," she said. The ANBU agent was gone as soon as she finished speaking.

Sai was standing in her office fifteen minutes later, with that stupid blank look on his face. "You called for me, Tsunade-sama?" he said.

"Take a seat," replied Tsunade, "I've got some important news for you." Sai sat down, seeming confused as to why he was there.

"You have a twin," she said, taking a swig out of her flask.

Sai smiled. "Excuse me for asking, Tsunade-sama, but how much have you drank today?"

"Not enough," replied Tsunade, sliding a file across the desk to him. "Read it."

He opened the file and came face to face with a picture of a female version of himself. "Oh," said Sai, "Maybe you weren't having alcohol-induced hallucinations after all."

"Oh, I'm drunk alright," said Tsunade, "but I'm not _that_ drunk. Not yet."


End file.
